"Oriental Illusions" Slim Lamar's Southerners (Victor, 1926) Memphis

Slim Lamar, cl, as, dir: Tony Almerico, c, v / Irwin Kunz, c / Sonny Clapp, tb / Jim Rush, cl, as, v / Bedford Brown, cl, ts / Lyle Murphy, o / Adrian J. Larroque, p / Jack Cohen, bj, g, v / Benny Pottle, bb / Bobby Turley, d. One of the reed players doubles on ocarina
Memphis (Ellis) Auditorium, 255 N Main St
Memphis, TN 22 Sep. 1928

47085-3 “Oriental Illusions (Oriental Nightmare)” (Bob Nolan) Vic V-40049

Transferred with 3.5ET lateral stylus in a VMN70SP cartridge via an Audiotechnica AT-LP120 Turntable. Declicked and EQ’d by Colin Hancock. Discographical Info and Research from Brian Rust’s Jazz Records, Brian Rust’s Jazz Records, Newspapers.com, The Billboard, Variety Magazine, DAHR, HistoricMemphis.com, and Colin Hancock. Recordings and Images from the Colin Hancock Collection.

Originally formed in New Orleans, reedman Slim Lamar led a popular hot dance orchestra throughout the Southern and Midwestern states of the US during the second half of the 1920s. The band played lengthy engagements in Memphis and Indianapolis, and was a favorite among college-aged listeners, leading to a steady booking of proms, formals, and various dances. Beginning their recording career in September of 1928, they recorded several sides over a few recording sessions with “Oriental Illusions” being the sixth matrix to see release (ninth if you count rejected titles). The Bob Nolan tune follows the trend of orientalism in popular music during that time, but does feature some hot moments, some interesting novelty, and is overall a fantastic arrangement giving us a great opportunity to hear a hot territory band in this context.